Om Shanti Om is a Hindi language (Bollywood) film which was released in November 2007 surrounded by huge publicity. The film stars Shahrukh Khan as Om and Deepika Padukone (in her debut role) as Shanti/Sandi, with Arjun Rampal as Mukesh/Mike. Supporting cast include Kiron Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Bindu, Satish Shah, Javed Sheikh and Yuvika Chaudhry. The film was directed and written by Farah Khan who also had a lot on input into the screenplay as well as being the film's choreographer and it was directed by Shahrukh Khan and his wife Gauri Khan. The film has a 12 certification and runs for about 160 minutes.

Firstly I have to tell you that I haven't enjoyed a Bollywood film this much in a long time. There - I've now told you that I think this is a fabulous film, I could stop here but oh I have so much to say about Om Shanti Om and you have to hear me out! Are you sitting comfortably?

This was Deepika Padukone's first film and I guess she'll do well in future films as her role in this film will surely put her on the map. I think she was about 19 in real life when this was filmed, although I'm not sure how old her character is supposed to be, mid 20s possible... She's portrayed mostly as a dreamy character during the first half of the film so not a lot of acting is expected of her, just cute smiles and dimples, that sort of thing… In the latter part of the film, she plays an inexperienced actress so it was art imitating real life as they say. I guess it wasn't necessary to have a big name for the leading lady as the film is a Shahrukh Khan vehicle all the way!

Shreyas Talpade was a pretty good supporting actor as Om's best friend in the 70s and the aged pal in the present day. All good Bollywood films have a best buddy character for the leading man and of course, being a bit of a spoof film, how could they not have a best buddy for the main man? Kiron Kher played Om's mother - she's a good actress and this is the first time I've seen her doing a fairly comedic role - at the start of the film she plays Om's mother who was at one time a wannabe actress too! The first scene you see her in she seems to be really over-acting about being worried about Om until you realise she is over-acting when Om scolds her for over-acting! Confused? You should be!

Pictures of Om Shanti Om (DVD)

A dancing scene from the film

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The story is very pleasant and entertaining; I can honestly say there were no scenes which could have been cut out to make the film better. The comedy scenes were provided by the main stars and for once, not that idiotic Johnny Lever and the scenes were genuinely funny. For example, when Om is filming a scene where he flies through the air to meet the bad guy, you see several crew members pushing him on a trolley in a superman pose - this scene had me roaring with laughter. The scenes in the 70s where Om gatecrashes a film premiere pretending to be a big star with his hand over his face and when asked for proof of identity he shows some ID with the hand over the face (this was the trademark of one of Bollywood's actual stars of the 70s). Also the flares and the bright coloured outfits and long collared shirts and oh so much bling - all so fantastic overall to watch and chuckle at!

Again for the first time in ages the film has an excellent soundtrack with all the songs worth listening to over and over (I think for me the last time I could say this was with Veer Zaara). The music is by Vishal-Shekhar and the songs range from soulful melodies such as "Aankhon Mein Teri" (meaning "In Your Eyes"), the fast paced "Dard-e-Disco" a peppy dance track for which Shahrukh Khan worked out for 3 months to get his abs looking perfect, then there's "Main Agar Kahoon" a soft lullaby by Sonu Nigam and not forgetting the unforgettable toe-tapping beats of Deewangi Deewangi in which no less than 30 big Bollywood names appear! Not surprising then that the composer won the Asian Film Awards 2008 in Hong Kong.